


Even Superheroes Like to Cuddle

by TigerLily



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Best Friends, Cuddle Pile, Gen, Phil Needs a Hug, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-10
Updated: 2014-02-10
Packaged: 2018-01-11 21:16:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1178022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerLily/pseuds/TigerLily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil objects to being the center of a superhero cuddle pile, but the Avengers do it to him all the same, or Phil needs to take a nap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even Superheroes Like to Cuddle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lasairfhiona](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/gifts).



Phil eyed the large leather couch in the communal media room of Avengers Tower with something akin to loathing, but not quite. He really wanted to stretch out on it and take a nap, but everytime he tried to in the past week he woke up surrounded by two or three members of the team.

Being considered the dorky, adorable middle of a superhero cuddle pie wasn’t conducive for the rest Phil so desperately needed.

He bit back a sigh and started to turn his steps back toward the elevator when he heard someone say, “You know you want to just stretch out on it and go to sleep.”

He turned and saw Tony leaning in the doorway that separate the media room from the kitchen. “What if I don’t feel like being everybody’s teddy bear?” he coolly countered.

“Give us time to get use to you being back among the living and we’ll leave you alone,” Tony rebutted with a wry grin. “And then, you’ll start wondering where we are at and what the hell we are up to.”

“You and Clint are the only ones who would cause me to do that,” Phil knowingly said. The two men were so similar in how they reacted to the things life threw at them it was amazing that they actually had become friends.

“Love you, too, Agent,” Tony snarked back only mildly offended to be compared to Clint. He preferred that over being compared to Steve.

Phil softly laughed unable to hide his amusement at Tony’s offended expression.

“Glad I amuse you,” Tony muttered once Phil stopped laughing.

“You’re a laugh a minute, Stark,” Clint contributed his two cents worth from the ceiling vent.

“Barton get the fuck out of the vents before you fall out of the ceiling again!” Tony growled picking up a pillow and throwing it at the air vent.

“He fell out of the ceiling?” Phil asked having put his handler hat back on. So much for him getting a nap before dinner.

“Yeah,” Tony answered. “Scared a couple of my new R&D brats, but no lasting harm was done.”

“Hmmm...”

Clint took that moment to pop the vent cover and lower himself down on the couch. He replaced the vent cover. “No crawling around in the vents until Stark gives me the okay,” he said knowing that was what Phil was thinking.

“And even then, just keep to the Avengers’ floors,” Phil advised.

“He’s a party pooper today, isn’t he?” Clint inquired of Tony.

“He hasn’t had his nap yet,” Tony replied.

“I see,” Clint murmured. “Should we put him to bed and read him a nice story?”

“Only if you don’t value your family jewels,” Tony lightly quipped causing Phil to snort in derision.

“Good point,” Clint conceded before turning his steps toward the kitchen. “I was thinking of making hot chocolate. You want some?”

“Yeah,” Tony answered following Clint into the kitchen. “That sounds good. You think Phil would want some?”

“I do,” Phil said having quietly entered the kitchen. “And, I’ll make it. Clint’s idea of hot chocolate is half a box of Swiss Miss and a handful of small marshmallows.”

“I get no respect,” Clint pouted while he made himself at home on the counter top next to the stove.

“Poor baby,” Tony teased.

“Bite me.”

Tony caught hold of Clint’s arm and mined biting him causing Clint to jerk away and almost fall off the counter. “I didn’t mean literally, asshole,” he grumbled.

Tony shrugged unrepentant.

Phil rolled his eyes and went back to looking for the ingredients for his mother’s homemade hot chocolate.

“We love you, Phil,” Clint and Tony said with matching expressions of mischief.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be your teddy bear.”

“Who’s going to be a teddy bear?” Natasha asked having glided into the kitchen undetected.

“Phil,” Clint answered hopping down from the counter to wrap Natasha in a hug. “When did you get back?”

Natasha allowed the hug since it was Clint’s way to make certain she was alright after missions. “I got back yesterday and Phil makes a nice teddy bear. He’s fluffy in all the right places.”

“Who gets no respect around here,” Phil grumbled at the same time Tony said, “Ouch, that’s harsh, Tasha.”

“Truth is a point of view about things,” Natasha countered.

“You’ve been hanging around Bruce for too long if you’re throwing Marcel Proust into a conversation,” Clint pointed out as he steered Natasha to a seat at the kitchen table.

“It wasn’t Bruce who introduced me to Proust,” Natasha said as she settled into the chair Clint had pulled out for her.

“Phil,” Tony guessed having figured after their first meeting that there was more to Phil than met the eye.

Natasha nodded watching for Phil’s reaction. Reading was a hobby he had shared with her when she first joined SHIELD since all she did in her off time was spar with either Clint or Sitwell. “It is good to be well read.”

Phil shrugged. He sat the ingredients that he found on the counter and retrieved a pot from the hanging pot rack to begin warming milk in.

“Yes, it is,” Tony said agreeing with Natasha. “I have never been able to sit still long enough to take it up as a hobby.”

“It would be a safer hobby,” Clint remarked poking fun at Tony’s inability to keep from being loud and boisterous with his current hobbies.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Phil contributed.

“Oh?”

“I took out an AIM operative in a Borders bookstore with a copy of _The Tao of Pooh_ ,” Phil answered with a smirk.

“Only you,” Clint huffed out in mild amusement as he returned to his spot on the counter.

“I think that tops taking out a pair of armed robbers in a gas station with a small bag of flour,” Tony lightly quipped.

“Who did what with a bag of flour?” Steve asked having silently slipped into the kitchen looking for an afternoon snack.

“It’s on Youtube,” Clint replied pulling out his phone and pulling up the relevant video. He handed the phone to Steve and had to bite back a chuckle at the confused look on Steve’s face when the video concluded.

“That’s Phil being epically badass,” Tony explained with his trademark cheeky grin.

“If you say so,” Steve commented hunting around the fridge for a protein shake. He was still confused by many things he was encountering in this new century he found himself in.

“The bag of flour served as a distraction,” Phil muttered adding ingredients into the pot of warm milk and stirring it to keep it from burning.

“As distractions go, it was a good one,” Natasha allowed.

“I’ve seen the Commandos use stranger things to equalize a fight,” Steve supplied as he took the chair next to Natasha and finished his newly acquired protein shake in a large gulp.

“All's fair in love and war,” Tony quipped hoping to forestall another trip down memory lane for him and Steve. It did neither of them any good.

“Who wants hot chocolate?” Phil asked before the silence in the room became uncomfortable and more than a little awkward.

“Me!” everyone chorused causing Phil to softly chuckle. There were times when the Avengers reminded him of a bunch of rowdy kids. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tony took out the mugs from the cupboard and Clint collected the whipped cream and marshmallows.

Phil filled each mug and passed them out so everybody could fix their hot chocolate to suit their tastes. He poured his last and slowly enjoyed it while everyone chattered back and forth like a bunch of magpies.

He felt his eyes begin to droop and knew it would only be a matter of time before he fell asleep standing up.

“Come on, Phil,” Tony said quietly in his ear. “Let’s get you stretched out for your nap.”

“Don’t wanna,” Phil sleepily complained sounding like a little kid. “Don’t like being the teddy bear.”

“It’s okay,” Tony soothed as he wrapped an arm around Phil’s waist and steered him toward the media room. “I’ll be the teddy bear this time.”

“Somebody spiked my cocoa,” Phil muttered finally figuring out why he was suddenly whining like a spoiled little kid.

“Now, if we had done something like that, then we would all be feeling the effects by now,” Clint reasoned having slipped into the media room to help Tony get Phil settle for his afternoon nap.

“You are all freaks of nature,” Phil came back with.

“We do love you Phil,” Tony gently muttered. “But now is a good time for you to shut up.”

Phil stuck his tongue out at them before letting himself be pushed down on the couch. He curled into Tony’s side resting his head on Tony’s shoulder as soon as the billionaire got settled on the couch.

“You two are adorable looking,” Clint teased.

“I hate you,” Tony softly growled not meaning it. “I hate you so much right now.”

“Love you, too, sweet cheeks,” Clint retorted. He brushed a soft kiss against Tony’s cheek.

Tony caught hold of Clint’s hand and tried to pull him down on the couch with him and Phil, but Clint slipped free. “I’ll go get the others,” he said and Tony let him leave.

Phil chose that moment to let out a soft snore and Tony bit his lip to keep from chuckling at the image of a badass secret agent peacefully sleeping like a newborn babe.

The rest of the team including Bruce filtered into the room and took their usual places around Phil and Tony making them the center of a superhero cuddle pile.


End file.
